Namie Amuro
Pop Singer
Famous for her hit pop singles "Can You Celebrate?" and "I Have Never Seen," she is also notable for her R&B-influenced album Queen of Hip-Pop, as well as for her compilation album Best Fiction.
In her early teens, she launched her music career as a member of an all-female group called Super Monkeys.
A fashion trendsetter in her native Japan, she inspired young girls to wear platform shoes and short skirts.
Raised in Naha, Okinawa, Japan, by single mother Emiko Taira, Amuro went on to become a single mother herself after divorcing her son Haruto's father.
At her career's height, she was regarded as the Japanese equivalent of Madonna.